Representatives of Helen of Troy present a check for $100,000 to the Reynolds House, a shelter for homeless women and children at 8023 San Jose during a presentation and Christmas party Tuesday. They are from right: Gerald Rubin, Company CEO, grandsons Jamie and Drew Frank, Reynolds House director Dorothy Truax, company Executive Vice President Michael Cafaro and company representative Greg Rubin. Helen of Troy has been a benefactor to the Reynolds house for twelve years, Cafaro said.

The Reynolds Home, a Lower Valley shelter for homeless women and children, will expand next year thanks to a $100,000 check the Helen of Troy Charity fund donated to the home at a Christmas party for home residents Tuesday.

"We went over there last year (for the annual Christmas party), and there were so many people (residents), and they started turning people away. I asked what they needed, and she (home director) said they needed more space," recalled Michael Cafaro, a Helen of Troy executive who started the charity fund in 2001 with donations from Chinese factories making Helen of Troy's hair dryers and other personal-care products.

REPORTER

Vic Kolenc

Dorothy Truax, Reynolds Home director, said the home had to turn away 52 families last December because it didn't have room for them. It's still turning families away this year, she said.

The problem is that all the city's homeless shelters get packed at this time of year, she said.

The Reynolds Home houses 35 to 40 families during the year, and the expansion will allow it to double that number, Truax said.

"We were thrilled when they told us they would give us a $100,000 donation," Truax said.

Helen of Troy's Charity fund also will supply furniture for the new rooms -- furniture made by El Paso's Rescue Mission, another homeless shelter.

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The money will be used to add 10 bedrooms and five bathrooms to the six-bedroom house, and also add a recreation center and expand the kitchen, Truax said. The addition will be done next year, she said.

The home has received a $6,000 Christmas check and gifts for its homeless children and mothers for the past several years from the Helen of Troy Charity fund, Truax said.

The $100,000 donation is part of about $300,000 the charity fund will give out this Christmas season to about 30 various charities, most of them shelters for the homeless, battered women, and children, Cafaro reported.

Money from the charity fund is in addition to about $1 million in corporate donations the El Paso company makes each year to various organizations, said Gerald Rubin, Helen of Troy founder and chairman.

Vic Kolenc may be reached at vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; 546-6421. Follow him on Twitter @vickolenc